"composite"

It became a buzz word rather than an engineering term.

 

Unfortunately management and others claimed it.
Engineers still use it with more precision.

 

I don't think glass foam alone unless stated. First composites I think of were planes of glued plywood to aluminum in concrete molds. Unless it's stated sheerly as foam core, I figure it could be a composite of anything! Haha


Barry

 

Oh! And new vettes have an aptly labeled composite floor pan of balsa and aluminum!


Barry

 

Ply

So Barry when you see a catamaran advertised as composite you think of a) aluminium and balsa b) plywood and stringers c) foam sandwich ? Ffs.

 

I guess I wouldnt blink if I saw that in description line of a boat labeled as composite, if that makes sense. As example, what's the big prefab cat? You know it's all cnc balsa glassed panels. That's fully what I'd call a composite boat. But! If it was all balsa whittled out then just coated in glass, it's just a wood boat with glass on it! Haha

 

Plywood and stringers no, again wood boat that got glassed. But if ply was layered in some way with glass or other material I might allow my brain to make an acception.

 

Some have tried to make a delineation between the amount of or percentage of the materials employed. Is the hull shell more plastic than wood to be called a wood or a GRP composite, etc. This is a thin line and there's few that have this data, accurately enough to use in published spec's.

Is a molded plywood hull, a wood/epoxy composite, is a taped seam build an engineered lumber composite, is toilet tissue Kleenex or just butt wipe paper? I have several designs that are traditionally, not a drop of epoxy, so would these be all natural builds? Maybe employing only virginal materials? Do you count the weights of the materials in the hull shell or the volumes? Yep, it's a 70/30 engineered cellulose/'glass/bisphenol composite?

 

like when i blow my nose, I call it a pollock!

 

It does annoy me when I see ply boats advertised as composite because it is intentionally meant to deceive and also because plywood is imho the best thing that ever happened to wood, nobody should be ashamed that their boat is built out of it, (at least real BS1088 marine ply)

Steve.

 

So the composite guys are not taking umbrage at the useage. But try calling a plywood boat a wooden boat and see what happens.

 

I'd call a ply boat a wood boat, and have no problem owning or calling it so.although! I just know that in the U.S its likely just not gonna sell well in the end, which is fine cause I should have bought or built it for less as well.


Barry

 

Plywood is the epitome of a composite material, so I don't have an issue with the term, though most think it's use deceptive, in this case it's not. Most looking to buy a boat, pretty much know what they are, how they're made, the material choices, etc., so if you fooled by a clever marketing strategy, well maybe you should just feel good about your powder blue Prius purchase, instead.

 

Most boat descriptions only refer to the hull construction so for years solid glass hulls have been refered to as fiberglass even though by pars definition they should also be the epitome of a composite material. Even balsa cored production hulls have typically just lumped in with the "fiberglass" description so the composite label has for many years been used to describe custom built cored hulls as opposed to production female molded cored hulls even though there is no difference in the product, only the process. These descriptions have worked well and most experienced boaters recognize the terms. Again plywood hulls have typically been called just that, there is no reason other than deception to call them anything else although in down under they describe plywood boats as GOP meaning glass over ply, a truly excellent way to describe them imho, just telling it like it is like GRP or FRP with no attempt to deceive. Of course deception will very quickly be found out but may at least get someone to read the ad and maybe take a look.
Oh, and I would happily own a powder blue prius if the price was right or a station wagon,(actually own a tdi) or a mini van, never given an ra what others think I guess.

 

No Insult was intended Steve. I agree some standardization should be accommodated, but this isn't what "marketing" is about. Good "marketing" is simply using a published statement, that makes you remember something. Ideally and traditionally, the company name and/or product is the thing they want you to remember. With this in mind and sufficient interest, you'll pursue this interest and get the details. It's not hard to find out just what and how any particular boat is built.

Insurance companies and certification societies have specific questions in this regard, as well as data collection agencies compiling statistics about boats, also make the various distinctions, between hull material choices and build types. Try to get a storage berth in a high end marina, owning a carvel cruiser if you tell them it's a carvel cruiser. If the bronze floor straps can permit you to call it a composite, your slip fee will be considerably less and you'll probably not have to sign a waiver either.

I know of a lot of smaller marinas that are kicking out "wooden" boats, simply because they consider them too much of a risk. This risk is based partly what they've learned, having several less than well kept wooden yachts in their slips over the years, but also is a result of the insurance company's requirements, which are based on their data collection about wooden boats. With these things in mind, considerable incentive can be justified for finding a different, possibly less descriptive or less than accurate description, of what a particular hull might be made from. Yeah, not fair, but understandable and likely the primary role of these colorful or artistic hull type descriptions other than trying to initially sway a potential buyer.